TOP STORIES -- March 27 -- April 1

Gasoline, Oil Prices Again Set Records

Gasoline prices hit a new high in California on Friday as crude oil futures cruised into record territory on Wall Street.

The statewide average pump price for regular gas led the nation at $2.45 a gallon, according to the AAA fuel price monitoring service.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for May delivery jumped $1.87 to $57.27 a barrel -- eclipsing the record of $56.72 set just two weeks ago.

The skyrocketing prices are affecting sales of once-popular giant sport utility vehicles that have helped prop up the nation’s biggest automakers, according to March sales data.

Overall passenger vehicle sales were up 4.6% from a year earlier, but sales of traditional truck-based SUVs were down about 14%.

The surge in oil prices is being driven by fears of future shortages as demand continues to rise even in the face of record pump prices, analysts say. Demand for gasoline is up 2% this year.

Nationally, regular gas rose to an average of $2.16 a gallon, up from $1.75 a year ago, according to the AAA.

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Economy Adds Only Half the Jobs Expected

The economy generated a net 110,000 new jobs in March, the fewest in eight months, the Labor Department said.

That’s significantly below the level needed to keep up with population growth. Economists had been expecting a net gain of 210,000 payroll workers.

Weak employment growth keeps a lid on wages. That keeps inflation in check and makes it less likely the Federal Reserve will, as some feared, bump up interest rates quickly rather than slowly.

However, a slack labor market isn’t good for employees, who have too much competition for their jobs to demand higher wages.

The March unemployment rate fell to 5.2% from 5.4% in February. The rate is calculated by asking households about their employment status. According to this survey, the number of workers increased by a net 357,000.

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Disney, Weinsteins Finalize Their Split

Walt Disney Co. and Miramax Film Corp. co-founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein agreed to part ways, ending a tumultuous, 12-year relationship.

The divorce comes after nearly six months of settlement talks and weeks of last-minute legal wrangling.

The Weinsteins will leave behind the company they founded a quarter-century ago.

Harvey Weinstein said he and his brother intended to create a “fully integrated media company,� temporarily called the Weinstein Co., that would encompass movies, TV, the Internet, publishing, theatrical shows and a cable movie channel.

Disney will retain Miramax’s most valuable asset -- a library of about 550 movies. Disney also retains the right to co-finance at least 25 films produced by the Weinsteins’ new company.

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$11.3-Billion Tech Deal Extends Buyout Boom

A group of investment firms banded together to take a major software company private in an $11.3-billion deal -- one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history, and a sign of how big-money investors increasingly are looking for ways to boost their returns as the stock market struggles.

SunGard Data Systems Inc. of Wayne, Pa., said it agreed to be bought by a consortium of seven investment firms, including Silver Lake Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Blackstone Group.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based Silver Lake Partners, which initiated the SunGard deal, said it planned to continue investing in the company to fuel growth.

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Hewlett-Packard Taps NCR Executive as CEO

Hewlett-Packard Co. named NCR Corp. Chief Executive Mark Hurd to head the storied computer and printer maker as it struggles to compete in an industry it helped create.

Hurd, 48, was a surprise choice. His hiring came seven weeks after HP’s board ousted chief Carly Fiorina over dissatisfaction with her “execution� after the acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. that she engineered two years ago.

Hurd will receive $1.4 million a year and a $2-million signing bonus.

HP directors said they chose Hurd, in part, because of the structural similarities between HP and NCR, even though HP’s $80 billion in annual sales dwarfs NCR’s $6 billion. NCR makes automated teller machines for banks, cash registers and point-of-sale devices and sells to a variety of customers.

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J.C. Penney May Receive Buyout Offer

Speculation that two investment firms have joined forces to bid for J.C. Penney Co. prompted shares of the 100-year-old retail icon to rise more than 8% on Thursday.

An acquisition of the nation’s No. 2 department store chain would mark the third blockbuster retail deal this year. And with a purported price tag of as much as $18 billion, a sale of Penney would be the second-largest leveraged buyout ever.

Women’s Wear Daily first reported that Cerberus Capital Management and Carlyle Group were considering making an unsolicited offer for Plano, Texas-based Penney.

Penney declined to comment on the report but indicated in a statement that it had no great desire to be acquired.

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American Funds Probe Focuses on Trade Costs

The Securities and Exchange Commission narrowed its probe of Los Angeles-based American Funds to determine whether the firm overpaid brokerages for trades as a reward for mutual fund sales, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

The SEC’s case could include allegations that American Funds’ trading deals penalized its 20 million shareholders.

The SEC, by concentrating on the so-called best-execution trading rule, could shake the entire fund industry by raising questions about long-standing sales arrangements between many fund companies and brokerages, industry analysts said.

The commission is examining whether American Funds, a unit of Capital Group Cos., in funneling some commission income to brokerages that were major sellers of its funds, failed the best-execution test in some of its trading, according to people with knowledge of the probe.

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Biogen, Elan Report 3rd Death in Drug Trial

Drug makers Biogen Idec Inc. and Elan Corp. said that a rare and often fatal disease had been diagnosed in a third patient receiving their suspended multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri.

Shares of Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen fell 11% in after-hours trading on Nasdaq on Thursday. U.S.-traded shares of Dublin, Ireland-based Elan slid 46% after hours.

The companies suspended sales of Tysabri last month after one patient died of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, during a clinical trial of the drug in combination with Avonex, Biogen’s older multiple sclerosis treatment. The disease was later confirmed in a second patient.

The companies said the latest diagnosis was in a patient participating in a trial of Tysabri as a treatment for Crohn’s disease who died in December 2003. The patient had been mistakenly diagnosed with brain cancer.

Biogen and Elan said their evaluation of Tysabri’s safety was continuing.

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Blockbuster Settles State Inquiries Into Late Fees

Blockbuster Inc. said it would pay $630,000 to settle investigations into claims that the nation’s second-largest video rental chain misled customers with its heavily advertised “No Late Fees� promotion.

The money will go to 47 states and the District of Columbia. Dallas-based Blockbuster also agreed to give refunds to customers who were charged for movies they didn’t return on time or who paid restocking fees after they brought rentals back. In addition, Blockbuster said it would do a better job of explaining its “No Late Fees� policy.

The attorneys general concluded that the campaign was misleading because customers could get stuck buying movies or games that they failed to return on time. Blockbuster agreed to clarify in its marketing campaign that there are, in fact, limited late fees.

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Google Ups Ante by Hiking E-Mail Capacity

Google Inc. doubled the capacity of its e-mail in-boxes as the online search giant ups the ante in its fight with Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. for the loyalty of Web surfers.

Google plans to give users of its Gmail service 2 gigabytes of storage for messages, digital photos and other attachments. It plans to continue expanding the limit as fast as technology allows, a Google executive said.

Many people, of course, will never come close to storing that much data. But a Google executive said that some users had hit the threshold or come close and that many more are using Gmail to send themselves photos and other digital files that they want to access from other computers.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant disclosed Wednesday that it planned to spend $500 million this year on computers and other equipment, a 57% jump from last year, to offer new services.

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For a preview of this week’s business news, please see Monday’s Business section.